This weekend’s Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally, known simply as ‘STPR’ to the rally community, serves as round five of the 2010 Rally America National Championship and is widely regarded as one of the most difficult events to win on the series calendar. A mettle-testing combination of extremely high speeds and narrow tree-line roads demand the utmost commitment and precision from the nation’s fastest rally drivers. To prepare for the rally, Subaru Rally Team USA driver Dave Mirra recently spent two days in Finland training with four-time World Rally Champion Tommi Mäkinen. The duo worked on high-speed car control on the gravel roads of Mäkinen’s rally school facility.

Mirra relished the chance to train with a rally legend like Mäkinen. After racing behind the wheel of a Super Production class Subaru with Subaru Rally Team USA in 2009, Mirra has stepped up to the more powerful Open Class for 2010 and is quickly learning the performance capabilities of his new, quicker Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car.

“It was an amazing opportunity to learn from Tommi; we worked on a few things that should really help my pace and some techniques on how to better control the car with greater precision in high-speed turns,” explained Mirra. “I think it will help my confidence level going into STPR, and I look forward to trying a few things he showed me while aiming for a strong finish.”

STPR is the oldest, continuously-running motorsports event in the state of Pennsylvania, with 2010 marking the 34th anniversary of the event. Based in and around Wellsboro, STPR begins Friday (June 4) with just over twenty miles of special stages, including a Super Special Stage at the Tioga County Fairgrounds. The action continues all day on Saturday (June 5th) with over one-hundred stage miles. The event’s smooth and flowing gravel and clay-based roads make it one of the fastest rallies in North America, taking drivers at breakneck speeds through lush green forests that grow precipitously close to the road edges.

Mirra’s Subaru teammate Travis Pastrana, the defending four-time Rally America National Champion, will be absent from STPR due to a previously scheduled engagement with the Nitro Circus Live tour in Australia. Pastrana is confirmed to be back in action at next month’s New England Forest Rally.

Event updates, news and results can be found at www.Rally-America.com starting Friday evening. Nightly Subaru Rally Team USA updates and photo galleries can be found at rally.subaru.com.